Indian Butter Chicken with Safeway Simmer Sauce

I have done Butter chicken also called Chicken Makhani before in the crockpot. Recently, we came across these simmering sauces at Safeway. They were part of a deal. Purchase two pasta sauces and your receive one of these simmering sauces for free. We went for the Butter Chicken but other options included Lemon Butter, Sesame Ginger, and Tikka Masala.

The instructions on the jar are pretty straight forward. Just brown some chicken and add the sauce over top and simmer away. While it would work for someone that had never had or made Butter Chicken before, the suggested preparation was not cutting it for me. The first time we made it, we only used a third of the jar of sauce, but it was still pretty soupy and thin and the flavors were off.

The next time I used the simmer sauce, I took matters into my own hands and got creative. I used my knowledge about tandoori and my selection of spices from making butter chicken recipes in the past. I started by sprinkling twice as much chicken as the instructions called for with a mix of chili powder, turmeric, and ginger and put it on a hot pan then added onion. As the onion became translucent and the chicken was cooking, I added a little butter and covered the pan.

By seasoning and cooking the chicken with onions and butter, you are adding dimension to the chicken instead of all the flavor being in the sauce. When the chicken was done, I poured the remaining 2/3 of the bottle of sauce over it and let it simmer as directed on the jar. The whole process took about 30 minutes which is much faster than using the crockpot and making the sauce at home. While it isn't something I would regularly buy to make this dish, it is fun for a quick meal or dinner for two.

Indian Butter Chicken
serves 2
ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped/cubed
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp butter
• homemade spice blend of chili powder, turmeric, and ginger
• 8 oz of Safeway Select Butter Chicken Simmer Sauce

directions

1. Heat a large deep skillet and enough olive oil to just coat the bottom of the pan over medium heat. Season chicken with the spice blend. Add chicken in a single layer. Cook 6-8 minutes or until chicken is just starting to brown. 
2. Add onion and cook until it becomes translucent. Add butter and cover. Cook an additional 3-5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Pour sauce over and simmer as directed on the sauce jar. 
3. Serve over rice. 

I was in no way paid or compensated to use, talk about, or feature Simmering Sauces. I purchased this on my own. As always, opinions on this blog are honest and my own.